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Instant ramen: it’s warm, flavorful, quick, cheap and filling.
方便面：暖和、可口、快捷、便宜、还容易有饱腹感。
It's the chosen favorite among college kids and inmates across America.
是全美国大学生和囚犯最喜欢的食物。
Check usage reports from the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, for example,
看看马萨诸塞州劳教部门整理的方便面使用报告，
and you’ll see that ramen was the number one sold item at prison commissaries.
你就会发现，拉面是监狱里最畅销的商品。
Ramen has become like cash among American prisoners.
拉面在美国囚犯中间已经变得像现金一样宝贵了。
Because behind bars, it can buy you anything.
在监狱里，它可以买到任何东西。
Anything that's got any value. From clothes, drugs, a favor.
任何有价值的东西。衣服，毒品，恩惠，
Hey, I like the way your penmanship is, can you write this letter for me, can you draw this for me,
嘿，写的字不错嘛，能帮我写封信吗，能帮我把这个画下来吗，
you know, anything.
任何东西。
It's literally gold.
说它是金子也不为过。
This is Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez.
这位是古斯塔沃“鹅哥”阿尔瓦雷斯。
After 13 years in and out of prison, he literally wrote the book on Prison Ramen.
在进进出出监狱13年后，他真的写了一部关于监狱里的拉面的书。
Ramen is the best and easiest currency because everybody uses it.
拉面是最好最简单的货币，因为每个人都用。
That's everybody's staple to cook.
拉面是每个人的主食。
You got to have ramen.
你必须要吃拉面。
Because prisoners can’t possess cash, they use objects to trade for other goods and services…
因为囚犯不能拥有现金，所以他们用物品交换其他商品和服务……
And anything that replaces cash has to be durable, portable, divisible into standardized units and highly valued.
任何能够取代现金的东西都必须是耐用、便携、可分割成标准化单位并且价值不菲的东西。
Ramen fits the bill, because unlike other traded objects like stamps- which are expensive,
拉面就符合上述要求，因为它既不像邮票之类的东西那么昂贵，
and tobacco, which is banned in most prisons, ramen is cheap and easy to get a hold of.
也不同于烟这种物品，因为大多数监狱都是禁烟的，拉面既便宜，又容易买到。
In the commissary, a single pack of ramen runs about $.59 on average.
在小卖部，一包拉面的价格平均在59美分左右。
But, once it’s out of the official commissary, ramen’s value is determined by an informal prison economy.
然而，一旦离开了监狱里的官方商店，拉面的价值就由非正式的监狱经济决定了。
They barter with it, they become jailhouse stores, so to speak,
他们用拉面交换东西，可以说，他们把自己变成监狱里的商店，
like guys would purchase all the ramen, kind of like that scene in Orange Is The New Black.
有人就会买下所有的拉面，就像《女子监狱》里的那个桥段一样。
She took over the market
她把监狱里的整个拉面市场都占领了，
Jesus, who bought all the ramens?
不是吧，谁会把所有的拉面都买了?
Guys fill up their shelves with this and they have their own store.
大家用拉面塞满他们的货架，然后开起自己的商店来了。
And they put their price on it.
把价钱写在上面。
Your ramen could sell for two to three dollars, believe it or not.
不管你信不信，你吃的拉面会卖到2到3美元一包。
A 2016 study found that while a sweatshirt cost $10.81 at the commissary at Sunbelt State Penitentiary,
2016年的一项研究发现，虽然一件运动衫在阳光地带州立监狱的小卖部售价10.81美元，
an inmate could sell that sweatshirt for 2 packs of ramen, increasing the value of ramen by 916 percent.
但一名囚犯会拿它去换2包拉面，拉面的价值在这一过程中上涨了816%。
In fact, food items are the overwhelming majority of what people buy.
事实上，囚犯们购买的东西绝大多数都是食品。
An analysis of annual commissary sales in three states shows that 75% of spending was entirely on food and beverages.
一项对三个州年度商品销售的分析显示，犯人们75%的支出都花在了食品和饮料上。
Inmates aren’t just using ramen as cash; they are also eating it.
囚犯们不仅仅把拉面当现金使用；他们还要用它来填饱肚子。
Creative cooking in prison is a necessity.
创意烹饪在监狱里是十分必要的。
When asked if prison meals were enough to live off of, Alvarez said: No, I think you would starve.
当被问及监狱的伙食是否足够填饱肚子时，阿尔瓦雷斯说:不够，我觉得只吃那些你会饿死。
I lost like ten pounds you know because they give you a meal that's maybe for a five-year-old, a 10 year old.
我在里面瘦了10磅，因为他们给你的饭菜只够一个5岁或者10岁的孩子吃。
But it wasn't up to par.
而且，监狱里的饭菜也没有达到标准。
It wasn't your four food groups, it was none of that.
他们并不会给你四种花样的食物，完全不会。
So ramen can supplement when the food provided isn’t enough.
所以，吃不饱的时候拉面就可以充充饥。
With 2.3 million people in US prisons, and pressure to cut costs,
美国监狱里关着230万人，面临削减成本的压力，
food is one area where federal and state governments are trying to save money.
为了省钱，联邦政府和州政府就试图缩减犯人们的伙食。
Some inmates are now being fed for as little as $1.77 a meal.
部分囚犯现在每顿饭的伙食费只有1.77美元。
In one instance, the Marshall Project reported that one prison that had whittled down costs to as low as $.56 a meal.
例如，马歇尔计划报告显示，某监狱已经将成本削减到了最低的0.56美元一餐。
But keeping food costs low doesn't come without consequences.
然而，保持食品价格低廉并非没有影响。
Aramark, a private food vendor to over 600 correctional facilities,
爱玛客，一家和600多个管教所都有合作的私营食品供应商，
has been cited for giving inmates tainted food and serving fewer and smaller meals.
就因向囚犯提供污染食品，以及日渐克扣犯人们的餐食上了新闻。
New information tonight about ongoing problems with maggots found in Ohio prison kitchens.
今晚，俄亥俄州监狱厨房里发现的蛆问题有了新的进展。
Issues like this with Aramark and other private food vendors have prompted civil lawsuits and protests in response to the state of food.
爱玛客和其他私人食品供应商的这类问题已经引发了针对食品状况的民事诉讼和抗议。
Turns out, food isn't just about nutrition; it's also about security.
事实证明，食物不仅事关营养；还关系到犯人们的安全。
Despite everything, ramen has become a way inmates keep a sense of control while in the system.
尽管如此，拉面已经成为了已经身在牢笼的囚犯们保持控制权的一种方式。
We would actually make a humongous spread.
我们还会做无比盛大的方便面宴。
And these soups would be the equalizer for all of us to sit down and have a meal, you know, and not stress what's happening in the prison yard.
那些汤则可以让我们大家一起坐下来平平等等地吃顿饭而不用担心监狱里发生的事情。
Trade and bartering in prison isn’t new,
监狱里的交易和物物交换并不新鲜，
but until there are systemic changes in its food system,
但除非监狱的饮食体系发生系统性的变化，
ramen will likely stay at the top of the prison trade economy.
否则，拉面很可能会继续处于监狱贸易经济的顶端。
Simply because food is a basic need.
因为食物是监狱里最基本的需求，
And ramen is a basic solution.
而拉面是最基本的解决方案，仅此而已。
